


Countdown

by JadeNightTheWriter



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Arson, Criminal AU, Drabble Collection, F/M, blame tumblr, hhh how do I tag this?, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27721510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeNightTheWriter/pseuds/JadeNightTheWriter
Summary: SoKeefe drabbles told through countdowns, to be posted whenever an idea comes. (Either every day or once a month there is no in between.)
Relationships: Sophie Foster/Keefe Sencen
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	1. Arsonist AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For theunmappedstar, blame that arsonist sokeefe anon.

_Ten_.

The match drops, the tiny flame tumbling towards the ground. They turn and race away, getting as far from the gasoline coated ground as they can.

_Nine_.

The match hits the ground, and flames leap up, like fish in a lake on a moonlit night, reaching for the stars. The flames lick higher and higher, as they tumble into a dark alleyway.

_Eight_.

Sirens sound in the distance, as Sophie gasps, grinning as she brushes her hair back, adrenaline flowing through her veins. Keefe grins at her, bright and bold and oh-so sparkling in the dark shadows.

_Seven._

He removes the bars of a small window, lying low to the ground and leading to a dusty basement. She pulls up the glass panel, leaving an opening just barely big enough for them to slide through.

_Six_.

Footsteps sound from far too close, as they slip through the gap and Keefe slides the window grill back in place. Sophie ducks behind an old chair, and Keefe follows barely a heartbeat later.

_Five_.

A light outside, sweeping past once, twice, before the footsteps start again, leaving this time. Keefe starts to laugh, soft and breathless and something catches in Sophie’s chest.

_Four_.

She kisses him, soft and slow, broken with their giggles and panting breaths, in the darkest shadow of an abandoned house’s basement, dust drifting through the air and the glow of a fire outside. 

_Three_.

Hours later they leave, slipping through the dark streets, matching hoodies and linked hands, perfectly at home with the rest of the teenagers among the neon lights of late-open shops.

_Two_.

Sophie prepares the next site while Keefe keeps watch, making sure no one finds them in this place where they’re not supposed to be. The smell of gasoline—sickly sweet and smelling like death—catches in her throat.

_One._

The match tumbles down, and they run, flames leaping behind them, hair flying and eyes gleaming in the darkest corners of the city.

_Zero_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2am thoughts really do always produce a fic. In this case a chapter of a fic but shh. Hope you like it :)

_Five_.

Keefe first sees the girl when he's fourteen, still under his parents' shadows and escaping to the nearby cemetery to draw in peace. She's blond and at least a year younger than him, tears glistening on her cheeks as she kneels in front of a gravestone, a handful of lilies clutched in her hand. A drop splashes down on the dry earth, and Keefe stands up.

_Four_.

He sees the girl, Sophie, once a week when she visits the grave—her parents', he now knows—and sometimes they talk, sometimes she cries and he'll let her cry on his shoulder. Sometimes he draws and she watches, smiling softly. It's a few minutes of peace, a little pocket away from the outside world.

_Three_.

Keefe asks if he can draw her, and she blinks, surprised, before she smiles and says yes. It's the one drawing he won't let her see, and he works on it only when he's at home, hiding it whenever his parents come in. They rip up the others but he keeps this one, because it's for Sophie and they can't have it.

_Two_.

Sophie ends up at the same high school as him, and their friends are surprised they know each other but they just smile and grin because it's their special secret. Keefe has a sketchbook just for Sophie by now, but he won't show her, not even when she begs and tries to bribe him with cookies.

_One_.

He finally shows her the sketchbook when it's finished, every last page covered in her smile and her eyes and the little hours at the cemetery every week. There's a long, long moment, while their eyes meet and he holds his breath, and then she smiles and Keefe can't think of a time he's ever been happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk this one has more of an open ending than the last? Mostly because I'm too tired to do an actual, proper, tie-up-all-the-plot-points ending. If someone wanted to actually write this out though O.O please let me know.


End file.
